Ebola Virus Death Toll Reaches 101

KINSHASA, Zaire — The death toll from the Ebola virus climbed to 101 on Sunday, and health workers said the epidemic may have started as long ago as December--three months earlier than previously thought.

Medical workers scouring Kikwit, a city of 600,000 where the outbreak was previously believed to have started in mid-March, found hospital records linking the virus to a household of 12 people of whom seven died in December.

Tests confirmed that at least one of the victims had Ebola, and researchers have been trying to determine whether the others did too, the World Health Organization said.